Pottery Barn Knock Off: Paper Towel Holder
How to make a paper towel holder for your kitchen counter using a wooden spoon and fork.
I saw this Cucina Paper Towel Holder in the Pottery Barn catalog recently and immediately thought of my daughter – she is into kitchen stuff, loves to cook, and into green living– note the un-bleached paper towel roll.
I wanted to get one for her as a little surprise, but with tax, shipping, and handling it would cost over $50. So instead of buying one, I did a Pottery Barn Knock-Off of it using old wooden utensils I had.
The Pottery Barn paper towel holder is on the left. I didn’t have a fork as decorative or long enough for the center of the holder, so I switched the utensils around to make my Pottery Barn knock off version on the right.
This was very easy to make. I had everything needed on hand, except the wood base that I bought for a few dollars at the craft store.
I decided to paint it to look like the Pottery Barn version, but you could paint it any color. I think it would look divine painted with chalk paint, distressed, and aged. As with any DIY – lots of possibilities.
supplies needed to make the paper towel holder:
- Wooden spoon and fork with round dowel-like handles
- 7” round wooden base – craft store
- Wood glue
- Drill and drill bit the diameter of the wooden spoon or fork handle
- Spray paint
- Optional: If your wood utensils are not as high as the paper towel roll you use, you will need to add a section of a 1- 1/4” diameter wood dowel to create more height for the center utensil. I had the dowel in my scrap wood pile, but a wooden thimble would work well, too.
These instructions are for short handled utensils. If the utensils you plan to use are longer than the paper towel roll, then skip cutting a dowel and just drill two holes on the top of the wood base (center and near the rim) a little smaller than the utensils’ handles.
1. Decide which utensil will be in the center. The spoon I had was much longer than the fork, so I used that for the center. It still wasn’t as high as the paper towel roll, so I had to cut a 2-inch section from a wide dowel. Drill a hole in the center on one end of the dowel about an inch down into it.
2. Find center in round base and mark with an “X”. Place end of dowel over “X” and trace around dowel . Pre-drill two holes for wood screws. Flip over to underside and screw in the screws through the base and into the centered dowel.
3. Place roll of paper towels over dowel. Mark placement for utensil that will hold the sheets of paper towel back. Drill hole into base. Use wood glue to secure front utensil to the base.
Let dry. (Before gluing, if needed, cut the height from the front utensil to resemble the Pottery Barn holder).
Do not glue center utensil into center hole, this needs to be removable so you can change the paper towel roll when needed.
4. Paint. I used one coat of Oil-Rubbed Bronze spray paint and one coat of Hammered Bronze.
5. Let dry.
6. Place roll of paper towels on base and then place wooden spoon into hole on the top of the paper towel roll. Push the end of the spoon into the base.
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